Congratulations to 161 Graduates from the St. Mary's Ryken Class of 2020

The St. Mary's Ryken Class of 2020 graduation ceremonies occurred during the week of May 18 in the Donnie Williams Center on the St. Mary's Ryken campus. This group of students is the first to graduate in the new Donnie Williams Center.  

"All endings are bittersweet and this ending for the Class of 2020 is especially so," said Principal Catherine Bowes.  "We are all sad that this amazing group of young men and women did not graduate together due to the pandemic.  It was wonderful, however, to enjoy extra time celebrating each student as an individual, meet their families and friends, and to provide a different kind of graduation memory for them."

This special group of graduates were admitted to 238 different colleges and universities that spanned 39 states.  The 161 seniors at St. Mary's Ryken received over 470 different scholarship offers that totaled over $21 million dollars which is the second highest in school history.  Forty-three percent of the senior class had offers that totaled over $100,000 or more. 

Included in the 70 different colleges this year’s class will be attending are notable Catholic and secular universities such as the Georgetown University, University of Notre Dame, Villanova University, John Hopkins University, Georgia Tech, North Caroline State, Penn State, University of Maryland College Park, University of California, The United States Naval Academy, Vanderbilt University and Virginia Tech to name a few. 

"The statistic I am most proud of for the Class of 2020 is their Christian Service hours", said President Rick Wood.  "The Class of 2020 had over 19,500 hours serving our school, counties, state and global communities, which is also one of the highest in school history!  They epitomize the Xaverian motto of “Falling in love with the service of God.”

Congratulations to all Class of 2020 St. Mary's Ryken Graduates!